While She Naps

Food Processor Bread - make it today!

I was introduced to food processor bread over the winter by Jennifer Judd-McGee who, if you didn't already know, is a very talented artist and a very kind person, too.  Jennifer - thank you!  This has got to be the easiest homemade bread recipe known to man and it is so good. I think it might take 10 minutes to make, no kneading, only one rise. I've made it every other week or so since I learned about it and I just can't buy sandwich bread at the grocery store any more.

This bread is wonderful, yeasty white bread with a tiny hint of sweetness.  It makes great sandwiches and great toast and great bread crumbs if you have any of it left to go stale, which you won't.  I hope you'll make it today.

Food Processor White Bread
from breadworld via Jennifer Judd-McGee

makes 1 loaf

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbl. sugar
1 envelope RapidRise Yeast (do not use any other kind - just RapidRise)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbl. butter
1 egg
3/4 cup warm water

Insert metal blade into food processor. Add flour, sugar, undissolved yeast and salt; process 5-10 seconds. Add butter and egg.  Begin processing, then slowly pour warm water through feed tube just until dough forms a ball, about 10-15 seconds.  Continue processing for 60 seconds to knead dough (I let it go longer, more like 2-3 minutes, just for good measure).  Remove dough onto a lightly flour surface. Cover and let rest for 10 min.

Roll dough into a 12 x 7-inch rectangle. Beginning at short end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll.  Pinch ends and seam to seal.  Place, seam side down, in greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan.  Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until double in size about 30-45 minutes (I've let it go much longer than this and it is just fine).

I usually brush it with egg wash or a bit of cream to give the top a nice shine, but you don't have to.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until done (30 minutes is always just perfect for me).  Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack (be sure to remove it because otherwise the bottom will get soggy while it cools).  Slice and enjoy!

green/blue bird

It is finally a sunny and beautiful spring day today.  We went for a nature walk at Broadmoor Sanctuary this morning and saw so many turtles and a beautiful hawk, too.

I finished this little green bird last night.  She is up in my shop now.

lion

A little lion today mounted on a chubby butter-yellow canvas. He's in the shop.

homemade playdough

I've posted about homemade playdough before, but we made it again today and it was such a fun, creative way to spend a cloudy afternoon at home.  This recipe makes a good amount which we divide into five or six colors. I like gel food coloring because the colors are brighter and it doesn't make the dough sticky.  I've made this to give away as gifts and for birthday party favors. You can mix glitter into it, too.  It lasts for a very long time. Give it a try.

Homemade Playdough

Ingredients:
3 cups flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups salt (not Kosher salt)
6 tsp cream of tartar (is there somewhere to buy this in bulk?)
3 1/4 cups water
3 Tbl. vegetable oil
gel food coloring

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large pot until no lumps remain.  Whisk in the wet ingredients, except the food coloring until no lumps remain. (I let the kids do all this at the kitchen table).  Cook on the stove over high heat 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, until dough forms (it is like magic, just keep stirring!). Separate into several portions and add food coloring.  Store in air tight containers.

 

new stuff

Okay, it is time to post about some new stuff.  First off, one of my birds, a little lark in orange and blue fabrics, is in the Spring 2009 issue of Stitch magazine. I hope you'll check it out!  There is a lot of a great stuff in there.

Next, a daschund.  I want to get a dog, but we're not quite ready yet.  When we do, though, I'd like a big dog personality in a small dog body.  Maybe something like this guy. 

He is in my Etsy shop now.  I enjoyed making this guy.  The pattern came together with ease and the slow rhythm of hand sewing each patch in the patchwork was very soothing.  And I think he's a cutey.

And finally, at long last, I made a mobile.  When I was in Atlanta for my show at Young Blood many people at the opening approached me suggesting that I make a mobile.  That, and cake toppers.  No sure yet about the cake toppers, but I thought I'd give the mobile a try.  My friend, Lisa, pointed out that although I regularly make things that fly, I decided to make my first mobile with fish.  Yep. Mobiles are hard to photograph! 

The mobile is in my shop, too.

Okay, that's enough new stuff for today.  I'm making beef stew for dinner with brown rice.  It is rather cool here for after Memorial Day and I'm looking forward to a warm dinner at home.

hello again and the blog's birthday

I'm still here and I'm sewing and sewing, I promise. And lots of non-bird sewing, too!  It has been so great to try some new things, new animals, new approaches and even some new fabrics.  This was the pile under my ironing board this evening:

Sparkly satiny stuff in there and some vintage neckties, too.  Wooden dowels and embroidery hoops and all sorts of things.  I'm working on a longer term project to be submitted in June and it is a bit frustrating to make and not post.

I like the rhythm - make and post and then make something else.  It helps me a lot to reflect here on the process of making and to record the finished project before moving on. 

This month it is four years since I began while she naps.  Wow!  I'm so so glad it is still here and that I'm still full of new ideas and bubbling over excitement about soft sculpture.  What can I say, soft sculpture. It's so cool!  And if you are here now, and perhaps have been visiting while she naps for some time, maybe for four years even, you must feel the same way. So hooray for soft sculpture and happy birthday blog.  I'm thankful for your companionship, and for yours, too.

hello

Lots of crafting and creating is going on here, but no pictures of anything yet. 

Pre-K is winding down for the  year and I had a rather unfriendly confrontation with the school director and the teacher this week about the atmosphere in the classroom. I think pre-K classes should emphasize and explicitly teach friendship skills to all children all year, but they do not agree and they don't want to hear from me. This has made me sad today.

On a better note, I had a lovely Mother's Day on Sunday. We went to Elm Bank and the kid's had a great time riding their bikes and exploring the children's garden there. And we even captured a little hug...in a bird's nest, no less!

I'm thinking a bit about my New Year's resolution this year - to exercise some times starting in June. I know, aim high, huh. But in June both of my kids for the very first time will be in a program all five mornings every week.  From 9-1 I will be on my own and I might, maybe, think about using a bit of that time to exercise. I haven't exercised since last August. But I weigh less now then I did when I got pregnant with Roxanne nearly six years ago so there you go.

So that's it around here.  Except that I baked two loaves of food processor bread last week and they were delicious. And the grill is officially set up for the season on the patio and I've been eating lots of very delicious grilled vegetables already.  I can't wait for our CSA to open.  

"Hurry."

Last night I finally finished a collage I had started many months ago. I worked on it for a week or two and then set it aside for some reason which  can't remember now. When I pulled it out over the weekend I really liked it and with the addition of a bird on a perch and a wooden spool of white thread it was finished.

"Hurry."
10" x 12" mixed media assemblage with soft sculpture

It is in my shop now.

I had some helpers this morning during the photo shoot. This is why out of 48 pictures only four weren't blurry.

 

puppet kit

We've received several craft kits around here recently with two spring birthdays.  The kits always look so promising before we open the package, but I tend to find the contents rather blah.  Usually the materials given are pretty sparse and I feel myself saying, "Shouldn't there be more in there?  More sheets of shrink plastic?  More gems?".  A few of the kits we've opened have contained glue or paint or clay that is already dried out. Fortunately, I have every kind of craft supply so we've been able to substitute and supplement with some fresh supplies, but I have found myself more and more inclined to make craft kits for kids rather than to consider buying them.

My nieces, Jordan and Ellis, are turning 5 this week.  In addition to a few other things (including Royal Rescue - have you played this game?  It's an awesome logic game that goes up in level as you play and is entertaining for many hours.  And I love that half the time the princess has to save the knight), I decided to put together a "Make Your Own Hand Puppet Kit" for them. With only materials that I already had in the craft room (granted, I have an obscene amount of  materials on hand), I assembled these last night. 

First, I made a template and sewed a simple hand puppet from wool felt.  Then I made a cardboard insert to protect the layers of felt during gluing. I cut some contrasting wool felt ears, paws, noses and mouths and a little heart. And finally, I found some googly eyes, a bit of ribbon and a heart-shaped gem.

With a few instructions and a bottle of glue, they should be all set.  I hope the puppet kit is a hit.

catching up

My major project is nearly out the door and now I have some time to catch up.  First off, Stella's birthday celebration.  We had an awesome music teacher, Josh Shriber, come sing songs and play his guitar.  This was a lot of fun.

And then pizza and chocolate cake.  I had never made a chocolate cake before.  Stella spit out her piece, but her buddy Sam demolished his.

That was last weekend.  Then we went back to school after a long break - Passover and Spring Break were back to back this year. 

This afternoon the clouds disappeared and we were outside on the patio and on the front lawn romping around

Doing some plein air drawing

And grilling lamb chops and skewered onions with za'atar.  We all love za'atar.

And Humpty number two is complete.

He will be listed in my shop in early 2010 after the pattern instructions are published in Australian Homespun.

Okay, I feel much better now.  Tomorrow I will photograph a little kit I made for my twin nieces who are turning 5 next week.  Puppets!